To most, the phrase "Web Services" is Portuguese. People simply don't understand it so I say Internet based software and websites. Problem is, most only know what web sites are. After I explain what it is, the light bulb goes off. For small businesses, this can be a problem because they stand to benefit the most from it.

Larger corporations think that it's impossible to be streamlined and cut waste. Large, small or medium, web 2.0 can add tremendous value to your organization.

Lets analyze a few technologies and how they fit together in common use.

Centralizing Data
This isn't some new technology but something that really helpful to do. When you centralize data, theres only one way in and one way out, so everyone has the same information. Its a method of document or version control. Weather its a hard copy of tomorrows sales presentation or pictures of safety site surveys, if its all in one place it shouldn't be hard to find.

For centralizing all data we look at Google Apps, a free work suite. It features web based email, word processing, spreadsheet, document and collaboration systems.

Wikis
Get everyone on the same page. A Wiki simply put is a community document that everyone has access to edit and update. The post common example is Wikipedia, an online collaborative encyclopedia. It gets its roots from the Hawaiian Language meaning fast. Ward Cunningham adapted Wiki to "What I Know Is" and became common place to common knowledge. People use these for general collaboration on projects, policies that need to updated and even encyclopedias! Our wiki is a Google Sites, a relatively new part of Goggle Apps. It allows users to create and share wikipages.

Folksonomies
How do you find information once you've saved it. A folksonomy is a social taxonomy. Its a way of classifying information based on real human perception. Its like giving a a file multiple search names or file names. To help you find the memo on office politics you boss sent out the other day, you might tag it: office politics, rules of the road, Jan (person that causing the problems), john new memo. These are all items that can help you classify and find information.

Mashups
Imagine taking mapquest, an image database, and a travel service and baling them up into a ball like playdough. What do you get? A site that lets you map and plan trips and then see actual pictures of places on the way. A mashup is a website made of many. It takes the core functionality of multiple sites and "Mashes" it up into one. The newest and perhaps the best user generated mashup i've seen is yahoo pipes. It lets you combine content from popular sites like Flikr and Youtube and even your own blog. You then combine them to make a totally new podcast or RSS feed.

Micro blogging (the worlds newest sensation)
How do you keep some one on your team updated? How do you let them know with out calling them all the time or interrupting? Companies are using a free service called Twiiter more and more. IT lets you write short(140 character limit) posts to keep others updated about general information, what you are thinking or your week end plans. Its a way to keep people updated that want to know.


We bring this together with the original discussion of web 2.0. Google Apps is a free office suite that exemplifies centralizing data and collaborative communications. Google Apps, Twitter, Flikr, Del.icio.us among many others are all free services that help you organize and streamline projects and collaborate more efficiently.

Labels: del.icio.us, flikr, folksonomies, google apps, micro blogging, twitter, web 2.0, wikis